World’s oldest tree that sprouted from the ground soon after the last ice age 9,500 years ago (and doesn’t look to have changed much since)

World’s oldest tree that sprouted from the ground soon after the last ice age 9,500 years ago (and doesn’t look to have changed much since)

By Sara Malm 17:19 24 Jan 2014, updated 18:09 24 Jan 2014

The fir was discovered on a mountain in national park in central Sweden

Although the trunk is much younger, root system is at least 9,500 years

The tree took root at the end of the last ice age, but could be older

The world’s oldest tree has been found on a mountain in central Sweden – and it is still growing.

The 9,500-year-old Norwegian Spruce was discovered by scientists at Umeå University during a 2004 tree census in Fulufjällets National Park in Sweden.

The age of the tree was established using carbon-14 dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida after an investigation by the university.

Growing old: The 9,500-year-old Norwegian Spruce is believed to be the world’s oldest tree, and grows on a mountain in central Sweden
The tree, named Old Tjikko, pictured on a less cold day, was found by a team of scientists during a 2004 census

It has been able to survive so long thanks to the process of vegetative propagation, which means it is able to effectively clone itself.

While the visible portion of the 13ft tall tree is relatively new, its root system has been growing for almost ten thousand years.

The parts of the root system that were sent to the United States dated back nearly 10,000 years, it is possible that other parts are older, locals told Aftonbladet.

Cold and old: The tree’s age was established by a laboratory in Florida which analysed parts of the root system
Spruced up: The trunk and firs are significantly younger than 9,500 years, but the root system has been growing underground since the last ice age

‘During the ice age sea level was 120 meters lower than today and much of what is now the North Sea in the waters between England and Norway was at that time forest,’ Professor Leif Kullman, professor of Physical Geography at Umeå University, said.

‘I can imagine that it may be probable that the first firs came from these areas.’

Professor Kullman has named the tree Old Tjikko, after his Siberian Husky.

He says wind and low temperature have seen the tree end up ‘like a bonsai tree’ with a lot of firs and a small trunk.

‘Big trees cannot get as old as this,’ he told Aftonbladet.

OLDEST LIVING TREE…AND HOW THE WORLD HAS CHANGED AROUND IT

The tree on Fulufjallet is older than most things we take for granted. It took root as humans had just begun to move north into Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia as the last ice age was beginning to end. Taking root 7,500 years before the birth of Christ, Sweden was still living in the Stone Age…

It took 5,800 years before Sweden entered the Bronze Age, around 1,700 B.C., the first time period where it can be proved the ‘country’ traded internationally.

Year 800 – The age of the Vikings begin, an era which would go down in history as one of trading, exploring and military success (by the Scandinavians) and violent raids and pillaging (the rest of the world). The Scandinavian Vikings travelled as far as today’s United States, Turkey, North Africa, and Yorkshire.

Around 850 – The first christian missionary, a German monk called Ansgar arrive in Sweden. It takes another 150 years before Christianity is established as a religion.

Late 900 – Sweden, as a nation, begins to unite under one leader and gets its first border – to Denmark – in the early 1000s.

1397 – Sweden, Denmark and Norway enter the Kalmar Union under King Erik of Pommern.

1523 – King Gustav I breaks up the union after defeating King Christian II of Denmark in the wake of the Stockholm Bloodbath.

1611 – Gustav II Adolf takes the throne and so begins the Great Power era when Sweden expands to the Baltic States and into parts of Germany, Russia, Poland and Norway.

1707 – Carl Linneaus ‘father of modern botany’ is born. He’s still depicted on the 100SEK note.

1766 – Sweden establishes the first principle of the freedom of the press.

1814 – Sweden fights its last war to date – the Sweden-Norwegian war. It ends with a union.

1833 – Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize is born.

1907 – All Swedish men win the right to vote.

1919 – Women in Sweden win the right to vote – but into practice in the election 1921.

1922 – A referendum is held on banning alcoholic beverages. It is voted down.

1955 – An article in Time magazine paints a picture of Sweden as the home of sin on earth.

1972 – Abba is formed. Two years later they win Eurovision and take over the world.

1980 – The order of succession to the Swedish throne is changed, and Princess Victoria becomes Crown Princess and next in line, ahead of her younger brother Prince Carl-Philip.

1986 – Prime Minister Olof Palme is murdered in central Stockholm. The killer is still at large.

1995 – Sweden enters the European Union.

1999 – The music of ABBA is adapted into a musical – Mamma Mia!

2003 – Sweden votes no to enter the monetary union and the Euro

2009 – Same-sex marriages are legalized in Sweden

2012 – Crown Princess Victoria gives birth to Princess Estelle – third in line to the throne

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